I
Chapter 5: Fallen From The Heavens
First_Sin
Part 1
July 20, 11:31 am.
Hishiro woke up inside a messy room with the sunlight on his face. The exhaustion caused by the events of last night haven't gone away yet. He wished he could sleep more, but the damn sunlight made his mind completely awake, so it was futile to even try. Giving up, he forced his body out of the mattress badly arranged on the floor.
This was his secret hideout, located at an abandoned area of District 10, popularly known as STRANGE. He could choose to stay at the school dorm, or at the luxurious room he earned from his job (and he actually used it from time to time), but he had a reason to pick this place over the others. The easiest way to reach it, he had to enter an old looking building by the window facing a back alley, climb the stairs up to the second floor, walk down a few steps of another staircase, pass through a hidden passage on the wall and go to the 5th room of the narrow hallway. There really weren't any other way to get there (unless he decided to get in through the 3rd floor window). It may sound troublesome, especially taking the fact that the area was frequented by members of Skill-Out into consideration. But it was exactly because of those difficulties that this place was perfect. No one would go through the trouble of coming all the way here to search for him. It was the only place of the city he felt really safe.
The room barely had the essential for living. Aside from the mattress, there was a small old refrigerator, a microwave oven, a sink with no faucet, a toilet, a large tube TV, a few books plied on the floor and a desktop computer. Even though it had power supply, there was no piped water, so he had to buy and bring mineral water every now and then. But that was hardly a problem, since he didn't spent much time indoors anyway.
After changing clothes and picking up a sandwich in the refrigerator, Hishiro turned on his computer, intending to check some news websites. His goal was to see what was being said about yesterday's incident.
"Let's see... Last night, around 8 PM a sudden electrical discharge happened inside District 7, damaging the power supply system which resulted in a massive blackout. The responsible company has been working during this down to repair the lines, but several parts of district 7 and a few neighbor districts still don't have power, and there is no prevision of when the situation will be normalized. According to the company, the causes of the discharge are yet unknown… Hah! What a bunch of bullshit."
It was an obvious cover up. He was sure that if he ran a research on that company name, a lot of dirty contradictions would come up, but it would only be a waste of time since the info would be useless. The boy sighed heavily, quickly devoured the sandwich and decided to head outside to breath some fresh air. It was the first day of summer break after all.
Before he could turn of the PC, a window splashed on the screen. You have received an urgent E-mail - was what it said, but he knew it wasn't urgent and who had sent it.
From: Akaku
Subject: Check this out!1!1!
Akaku was the nickname Asuka used on the net. The content of the message was a single short link. Hishiro grunted and hesitated to click on it. Who knows what the heck that woman had sent him?
"... whatever. If it's a trap, I'll play a prank on her that she won't forget anytime soon." Determined, he clicked on the link. It led to a infamous forum page where people usually discussed conspiracy theories and stuff. The subject of the page in question was interesting at the very least.
The topic being discussed was Kaitabi Hatsuya, which was arrested as the main suspect of the Gravitation Bombing Incident a few days ago. It said that he had fallen into a comatose because of continuous use of the Level Upper, but there was no evidence nor whatsoever.
The sudden comatose stuff was creepy, but he felt glad that the culprit was caught. He did got directly involved in one of these explosions after all. Just for the sake of it, he opened the searching tool and typed the words "comatose" and "Level Upper". We were not supposed to be formally investigating this. The higher ups made we stop before saying that it was already being dealt with. His finger hit pressed the Enter key anyway and... "What the hell?"
There was a scary number of hits. If they were about the same incident it would be fine, but that wasn't the case. It seemed like there were already several victims. A few even mentioned that the Level Upper was a failed experiment produced by the 5 Elements Institute. "Haha... how in the world can you consider this as being dealt with?"
Hishiro maximized the e-mail window once again and replied the message.
From: Blankspace
To: Akaku
Subject: RE: Check this out!1!1!
That's messed up. Lots of people are collapsing. Glad I rejected your idea to try the L.U. back then when you found it. But the situation is scaling. Why they don't let us handle it?
The reply arrived in less than five minutes
From: Akaku
Subject: RE:RE: Check this out!1!1!
Beats me. The team in charge gotta be really incompetent. Or they don't want anyone involved, just like yesterday.
In other words… is this whole incident happening because they want it to happen? Why? The idea sounded macabre, but no one who ever stepped in the darkness could just pass it as nonsense. It was possible that someone was benefiting from it… though Hishiro had no idea what kind of benefit could be achieved by a bunch of low level espers collapsing. Unless it really was a failed experiment from the 5 Elements Institute - but that would link to the Breakdown, placing him and Asuka into a situation where they would be unable to continue their work due to the non interference rule. He pushed the thought away for now and continued reading the message.
On a more bright topic, your horoscope says that those you'll meet up with today are going to be long term partners for you. Fight on, Shiro! You might find a girlfriend today!
"... As if. Well, my own fault for believing that I could keep a serious conversation with you for longer than this." He felt glad they weren't talking by phone now. He could almost hear she saying "What, did I hit a nerve or something?". Frustrated, the boy turned off the machine and left the room
Part 2
Idiot. I'm an idiot.
Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupiiiiiiiiid!
How could I make such mistake? How could I have forgotten? Me, of all people?
Those words kept popping inside the girl's head as she walked through the streets. Other people looked at her like she was some kind of alien being, which was comprehensible. No one here was used to seeing someone of her kind.
Sure, the events of this morning made me confused and all…. But even so, am I so weak to be shaken just from that? Worse, I blamed him for everything. Well, it was mostly his own fault for being so stubborn that the situation developed in this weird way, but I didn't need to do what I have done to him… and just for thinking about it is making my head spin!
Her face felt hot. Hot, hot hot hot hot, so hot... It was like she was blushing from the top of her forehead to the tip of her toes. The embarrassing memory was just too much for her to handle.
Now I have to go all the way back there to take it back, and because of that I'm putting the life of the innocent people of this city in danger. They have nothing to do with this. It's all my fault for being an idiot. Why this had to happen?
She had to hurry. Yet, she couldn't run. If she did, she would stand out too much, more than she already did. Thus, they would find her. The situation was so helpless that she barely could stand the irritation eating her up from the inside.
The girl was all alone. Surrounded by 2.3 million people, yet she was alone in a place she wasn't used to. There was so much she didn't understand. And she couldn't ask for help. She couldn't allow herself to do so. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if anyone got involved. All she could do was sigh and keeping fighting on her own. For her sake. For the sake of all these people. Maybe even for the sake of the world itself.
"I wonder if he is still there..." The answer was obviously no. That unfortunate boy was busy today, he must have left hours ago. Why am I even thinking about him anyway?
Part 3
"Haaaaah… No use. This isn't satisfying at all…" Annoyed, the boy gave up and turned away from the arcade machine. Everything was going fine until the cheap boss appeared and wiped away all of his coins.
I should have seen this coming. The last entry in the series was also the same, with a huge difficulty spike all of a sudden just to rob your money. Sighing once again, he left the arcade. It was almost 1 PM and he yet had to have lunch.
…
"Uuuuhhh… I'm tired… and hungry..." The girl was walking for several hours and she knew that she was only halfway to her destination. The exhaustion of everything that had been happening was starting to get to her. Though there was no time to worry about such things…
*Grumble*
"Uhhh..."
To make everything worse, there were several food stalls and establishments on the street she was walking right now. People were having a good time, eating and talking to each other without a worry in the world. She alone was not allowed to have the luxury.
…
At first, Hishiro intended to eat nearby the arcade to save time. However, it was the first day of summer break, there was no need to worry about time, so he decided to go to District 18 and eat in a restaurant he didn't got to in a long time. By bus, it took about 20 minutes to get to the district, and from the stop it would take more 10 minutes walking. He was almost there when it happened.
The girl walked without paying much attention and turned right on the crossroad.
The boy, lost in thought, turned left in the crossroad.
They bumped on each other head on.
"Agh!"
"Ow!"
Hishiro took a few steps back, surprised at what happened. Then, he finally saw what he had bumped into. It was a girl wearing some kind of white robe. She was short, probably about 14 or 15 years old, had green eyes and long silver hair. The first word that crossed his mind that described the figure was "angel". Her innocent beauty made his heart skip a beat and his body froze in place.
The girl was lying on her butt, staring at him. Neither did anything for many seconds, until her expression finally changed. She looked like she was about to cry. Hishiro finally snapped out of his paralyzed state and offered her a hand to help her stand up. "Sorry, I didn't see you. Are you alright?"
She wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes and took his hand. "N-no, it was my fault. I wasn't looking. I'm sorry."
Studying her figure again, the boy froze one more time. Her robe had some kind of religious feeling to it, he had never seen anything like that before. And it had several pins holding it together. There was something bothering him about it… it looked weird, sure, but that wasn't it. It felt like he was missing something important.
*Grumble*
"... uhhhh..."
The loud noise broke Hishiro's trance. The girl looked like she wanted to leave, but was torn between doing so or asking for food. No. I shouldn't. If Asuka somehow finds out that I fed a random girl I just met, I'll never hear the end of it. Yet he was unable to just walk away. There was a strange feeling that he would regret if he lost sight of her.
"Are you hungry? No, that was a dumb question, you're clearly starving. Come, I'll buy you something to apologize for that."
Her face beamed for a moment, but she hesitated to answer. "No, I can't accept. I'm in a hurry, and it was my fa-"
*GRUMBLE*
"... You sure?"
"... auuuhh…"
He almost laughed at her cute reaction. "C'mon, it's no big deal. I was on my way to have lunch anyway. It won't take this long."
The girl accepted this time, with her eyes almost in tears again.
…
He didn't expected things to go any weirder though. At least not THIS much weird.
"I-Index Li… sorry, what?"
"Index Librorum Prohibitum. If it's hard, you can call me just Index." Said the girl right before filling her mouth with a large chunk of meat. The boy wondered if this whole situation was some kind of joke. Or maybe he was still dreaming. It would be easier to go along with that, but his gut feeling wouldn't just go away. How should I deal with her? I don't understand what is going on, so maybe it would be for the best if I just keep the conversation going as if there's nothing wrong?
"I'm Hishiro. Nice to meet you." She answered him with a nod and a big smile. "You're not from around here, are you? I mean, from Academy City..."
"No, I arrived here yesterday. Though I've been on japan for about a year now."
A foreigner, like I suspected. That explains the name. Kinda… He took a few sips of his soda before continuing. "Where did you came from?"
"Before coming to Japan? I used to live in London."
London. A shock ran through Hishiro's body. The name ringed several bells in his mind, but he didn't know exactly why. The girl continued without noticing his reaction. "Actually, I'm a nun in training of the English Orthodox Anglican Church."
He finally understood. Like a tsunami, several memories of the past few days washed through his mind mercilessly.
England. Anglican Church. White robe. Yesterday. The blackout and the invaders. The USB drive. Ambassadors. Guests. Holy crap… No, this can't possibly be!
Could she be one of the ambassadors? But if that was the case, several things didn't made sense. First of all, Why would she be running on the rooftops? Motoharu stopped them from intervening, but Kinuhata said that someone wearing a white robe got hit by the other pursuers. Who were those others anyway? No, more important, why no one stopped them from attacking her if she was a guest? Why would a guest need to invade the city in the first place?
Among the endless questions surging inside his head, one in particular broke the basis of what he thought he knew about the whole thing: wasn't the term Anglican Church supposed to be a code to something? If not, then this Index wasn't an ambassador at all, the woman in the phone was wrong. She was too young to be one, after all. In that case, what was a code and what wasn't in those files?
Lost in thought, Hishiro didn't noticed how much time passed. The girl had already finished her meal when he came back to his senses. "Thanks for the food! You really saved my life. I need to go now, so bye! May the Lord bless you!"
DON'T LET HER GET AWAY! On instinct, he tried to follow her, almost forgetting to pay the bill. When he left the restaurant she already was on the end of the street. Damn, she's fast!
"Wait!" He rushed and managed to catch up before she could walk through the pedestrian crossing. Index tilted her head in confusion. "Is there something wrong?"
"You said you were in a hurry." The boy quickly came up with an excuse. "In that case I might be able to help you get there. You must not be used to the city yet, right? Where are you going?"
Index replied with a kind smile. "Thanks for worrying, but I already memorized the route. I've been there once, so it'll be fine. All I need is to pick something I left behind."
Memorized? She is trying to brush me off, isn't she? In that case I'll go for a more bold approach. "I see… Can I accompany you at the very least?"
"Huh? Why?"
"Well… I want to hear more about England and everything. We could keep talking on our way there."
"Sorry, but I'm really in a hurry. We could talk about that some other day." Index turned away and started walking, leaving him behind.
Tsk. She denied me as boldly. This girl looked like innocent and easy to manipulate at first, but she actually knows her way with words. Firm, polite and without openings.
"Hold on." Hishiro tried to follow her once again.
The nun didn't stop and just looked over her shoulder. This time, the smile had vanished from her face. "Are you trying to delay me on purpose? Do you have a reason to keep me here?"
"N-No! Of course not!" Her sudden change of attitude caught him of guard.
"Then excuse me." And like this, she turned her back at him and kept walking, faster than before.
Hishiro sighed and ran towards her. She had won in my own game… dammit, I'm not good on this kind of stuff. Memories of one of his former teammate which was a master when it came to manipulation and information gathering crossed his mind for a second, but he forced it away and focused on the problem ahead of him. She is clearly being cautious- which is understandable if she really is that invasor. Trespassing aside, those other two were after her life. I can't just earn her trust and make her tell me everything without giving her any guarantee that I won't harm her.
He caught up with her in a matter of seconds and spoke before she had a chance to be scared and get away. "It seems I can't just do it the easy way, so I'm gonna be honest with you."
"Leave me alone!"
"One question" He insisted. "I just need you to answer me a single question and I won't follow you anymore."
Index tried to walk faster to lose him, but he just matched her speed no matter what. She pondered for a while and answered. "Fine. What do you want to know?"
"You said you arrived yesterday, right?" Choosing his words carefully, Hishiro built his trap and cornered her like a detective would in an old school novel. "There was a blackout yesterday. The lack of power eased the security system and three people broke into the city. But of course, you already know that." He made a pause on purpose and waited for her to react.
Her body jerked and she tried to deny in panic. "I-I… I know nothing! To begin with, I… arrived in the morning, so how should I know if all lights were out?"
Check mate. Never thought that his trick would be useful someday. The boy smirked and glared at her. "I never said the blackout happened in the night, my dear Wats- I mean, Index." He had to try hard not to laugh at how panicked she was right now. "Though of course, anyone would notice the blackout, even if they were indoors, so this doesn't prove anything. However, I'm not here searching for proofs, because I already know for a fact that you got in by unofficial means."
"T-then, you're not here to try to arrest me?" She asked, sounded somehow relieved. Right now, she was completely on his hands. He betted on the pressure she might be feeling of being a runaway, and once he cornered her, he showed her that he was not an enemy. This is a psychological trick he learned by reading mystery novels since he was a kid.
"Probably not. First I need to confirm something. Yesterday night, those 3 invasors were moving through the city by using the rooftops, and one of them feel after getting attacked by the other two. Would you perhaps be…"
"How? How do you know that?"
"Well, your reaction pretty much confirms it." Hishiro couldn't help but chuckle. "I was there as well, tracking you and your pursuers, but the mission got halted. Did you really got hit and fell from the top of the building?"
Her eyes got a little sad all of a sudden. "... yes. I got careless when I was about to jump."
"Are… are you really alright? It was a clean hit, and from that height..." Hishiro asked, but the answer was obvious from just looking at her. There wasn't a single visible bruise on her body.
Index finally smiled again, making his heart skip another beat. "Are you worried at the criminal now? Hehehe, I'm fine. I defended against the attack, and I fell into a balcony instead of the ground."
"Is that so… good to hear." Actually, he wasn't exactly worried. He was trying to understand how could she survive that situation. Defended huh… Is she a Gemstone Esper or something? "Why were these people after you?"
Index thought for a bit before replying. "I have something they want. They'll do anything they can to get it. But I won't tell you exactly what it is."
"Why?"
"I tried explaining it to someone before and… it didn't ended well." the troubled expression on her face stopped Hishiro from prying any further. After a few minutes of silence...
"We arrived." She said. It was a regular school dorm you could find anywhere in the city. "Is there anything else you want to ask? I really need to go."
There were tons of questions he wanted to ask, but he was barely able to digest the information he got so far, so he gave up. "No, that's all I wanted to know for now… By the way, you don't need to worry about the city security. Someone among the leaders seems to be on your side since we were called off yesterday."
"Uhum. Thanks for telling me. Well then-"
"Wait. Are you going to be alright? I mean, are these two still after you?"
"Don't worry, it will be over soon." She said with a confident smile before waving for him and walking inside the building.
Hishiro stood there for a while, wondering on what he should do. "Pff... uhuhuhuhehe, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He then picked his communication device and turned it on. "Asuka, come in."
"Oh, Shiro! It's so rare for you to call me on your own when we're not working. You should do it more times. I can get really lonely here, you know..."
"Shut up and listen, we don't have to joke around woman." He said with a strong tone before laughing maniacally one more time. "You have no freaking idea of what just happened!"
Between the lines
The old lady was walking down the hallway. She looked like she was at her late fifties, wore a heavy coat and a handmade scarf. Her name was very well known within Academy City. Oyafune Monaka. Among the Board of Directors, she was the one with the best reputation. However, if the general public knew what the lady was about to do, her reputation would be ruined beyond repair.
In front of one of the last doors, two people were waiting for her. One of them was another member of the Board of Directors, Kaizumi Tsugutoshi. The other was a girl that introduced herself as Kumokawa Seria.
After the greetings, Kazumi was the first one to talk. "I guess you want to get this done as soon as possible. Shall we go inside?"
Oyafune replied with a blank expression. "Are they inside already?"
"Yes, we already managed to gather all of them. All that's left are the formalities, which is why we are here" Answered Seria. "Don't worry, they won't hear the details. They are in the waiting room, we are going to the soundproof office."
Oyafune sighed and nodded. The girl then opened the door and led them inside. Sitting down in chairs and the sofa there were six children. It was hard to be sure by just glancing, but the oldest of them didn't seem to be more than 14 or 15 years old. He wasn't paying attention to the adults entering and was focused on the several batteries he had on his lap. Aside from him, there was a boy with a long ponytail with his arms crossed and eyes shut, a boy with brown hair and eyes wearing heavier clothes than the others that seemed to not be caring at all about what was happening, a boy with red spiky hair that was practicing a trick with cards, a girl with bluish long hair that was murmuring something… The youngest was the last of the two girls in the group, sitting down alone in the corner of the room. She seemed to be just nine and looked a bit depressed, but she smiled when Oyafune waved at her.
The three entered the said office and locked the door, so the kids outside wouldn't hear them. "They are all so young… they don't deserve the fate we are imposing on them." Said the old lady in a regretful tone.
Kazumi looked for the right words to tell her. "I'm really sorry to ask this of you. I know it must be really uncomfortable, but please understand. We really have no other options. We need to act before things start to get out of hand."
"I know..." Answered Oyafune. "Where are the documents?"
"Here." Seira handed her few sheets of paper. "There are listed all the members, who they are or aren't allowed to obey, and countermeasures to be taken in the case of everything comes to light. Let's just hope that the latter never happens… This won't be submitted to anyone, so don't worry. It just exists to be used as reference later on."
Oyafune took her time to read everything that it said about the children.
Kai Ishida: 15 years old - Level 3 Electromaster;
Isay Aleksev: 13 years old - Unable to go trough the Ability Development Curriculum (check the Parameter List for more details);
Hishiro Yamazaki: 13 years old - Level 3 Null Inertia;
Jun Kwang: 12 years old - Level 4 Clarevollence;
Ryou Udekashi: 11 years old - Level 2 Telepathy;
Hinata Sazuko: 9 years old - Level 0;
"By the way" Seria interrupted her reading. "Some of them have… complicated pasts, so a few of the names and ages described there are actually fakes to cover up their origins. But I can guarantee that they are capable of doing whatever we need them to do."
"Oh... I understand" Disheartened, Oyafune quickly signed the papers and handed them to Kazumi.
"I hope you don't mind, but I assigned Seria to oversee the team operations to maintain their success and safety." Said the man as he signed the papers as well.
"I do have one condition regarding that." As she said it, the old lady picked some kind of device that looked like speakers and a mic at the same time from her pocket and placed it on the table. The other two looked at each other in confusion. "Seria will share this responsibility with someone of my absolute trust. Asuka, can you hear us? Introduce yourself to your new partner."
"Hi hi~ Asuka Mayu presenting to service!" The female voice suddenly came from the device. "Should I follow the file format? Asuka Mayu: 23 years old. Level 1 Pyrokinetic. Currently single. Blood type and measurements are..."
"That's enough Asuka, thank you very much." Even though she had to cut her off, Oyafune mood slightly improved on hearing the careless voice.
Kazumi frowned and asked. "What's the meaning of this?" Neither him nor the other girl seemed pleased at the turn of events.
"It's simple. You are indicating someone to take care of the team, and so am I. We are both responsible for it, so I think it's just fair that both of our right hands are involved. Do you have any objections?"
The man did not answer. Instead, he turned to Seira, looking for help. The girl could just sigh "It's okay, we agree. It's fair enough. Though you could have brought her in person instead."
"Nope, that won't do." Asuka said. "I never meet important people face to face. It's a rule of mine. You never know when you might get caught in an attempt of murder by accident. Or when the other party want to corner you, blackmail you, kidnap you, things like that."
"That sounds a bit unfair..." Complained Seira.
Oyafune had to intervene. "She is a bit complicated, but she is the best on what she does. I give my word on that, so please overlook the details."
The girl was obviously annoyed, but didn't pressed the matter any further. They couldn't give up because of something so minor. They needed the team in action as soon as possible. She quickly gathered the files in the corner of the table and gave the last bit of explanation needed to everyone in the room.
On the top of the first page of the file was written: Reformulation of the Unofficial Regularization and Intervention Squad - New POINTER.
Managed to finish it in less than a week. Hooray! This is the least I could do after taking so long to release the last 2 chapters. Unfortunately I can't guarantee that I'll be able to keep this rhythm...
Anyway, with this chapter the introduction arc is over. For those wondering if Touma will appear soon… well, I guess the answer is clear now, given the direction things went this chapter. The true question is: Who is gonna get punched? Whose illusions are going to get destroyed? Have fun trying to figure it out. ^_^
Well then, all the pieces I wanted are finally set on the table. Now that the dark side of science and magic finally crossed paths, what will happen to the story?